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Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Tips on Talking Like a Teenager for the Older Person (Part1)

Teenagers love using new words or phrases. Their language
evolves so quickly that even for a teacher, and an English teacher at that,
keeping up with the trends is not easy. If you find yourself currently out of touch
and looking to be more ‘down with the kids’ fear not – a series of blogs are on
their way that will help you understand and communicate with teenagers on their
level. Perfect if you are struggling through a midlife crisis.

First up, two acronyms I had explained to me today by some A-level
students: YOLO (You Only Live Once) and LOLs (Laugh Out Louds). It seems that
YOLO can be added to a sentence to show people how crazy you were/are/will be
in the future. For example: ‘I drank twenty pints and fell off a cliff YOLO’.
More recognizable from Facebook and text messages, LOLs is the plural of LOL
and can be dropped pretty much anywhere: ‘Last night we had some insane LOLs’.

All seems simple enough. Use YOLO and LOLs in the right
context and blend in seamlessly with the younger generation. Or, far more
amusingly, annoy them intensely as embarrassing parents or teachers by using
them in completely the wrong context. Observe: